Plain packaging stubs out smoking

Research by the Cancer Council Victoria is underlining the power of packaging – with findings that smokers are less willing to display their packs in public and smoke in outdoor areas since branding was stripped and graphic health warnings introduced for cigarettes.

Displaying packs on tables declined by 15 per cent after plain packaging – researchers say this was mostly due to a 23 per cent drop in the number of patrons who were observed smoking overall, especially in places where kids were around.

Fiona Sharkie, executive director of Quit Victoria, says the new-look packaging means smokers do not want to advertise their habit. She says, “Your cigarette pack used to be an expression of who you were and now it’s an expression of what is going to happen to you.”

She adds that the packages have become the primary source of the Quitline number for callers; “So we know that smokers are looking at their packs and thinking about quitting.

“Smokers are now less willing to light up in a public place and more likely to hide their pack. This is further proof that fully branded cigarette packs really were mini-billboards to promote smoking. The packaging now reflects the grim reality of disfiguring illness and life cut short by smoking.”

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